Another example of Mercedes unreliability ?

[jpwilliams]

I`m currently on vacation in Spain and I have just had to authorise the supply and fitting of a new Alternator to my 2003 W210 Diesel Estate.
The Alternator stopped working on Sunday afternoon after 19 years and 252,000 miles. So much for Merc reliability huh ?
They clearly don``t make em like they used to!

 

[SpikyMikey]

Yep, nothing's built to last anymore

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I`m currently on vacation in Spain and I have just had to authorise the supply and fitting of a new Alternator to my 2003 W210 Diesel Estate.
The Alternator stopped working on Sunday afternoon after 19 years and 252,000 miles. So much for Merc reliability huh ?
They clearly don``t make em like they used to!

Play the Sale of Goods Act card, clearly not fit for purpose if it has only lasted two decades and quarter of a million miles. In fact take it back to the supplying dealer and reject it - don’t take no for an answer.

 

[johnsco]

They must have fitted some good alternators to the W210s.
I owned three ....... all got to 230,000 miles + ....... Never had any alternator troubles.

 

[fabes]

How many powered devices / appliances / machines do we have that have lasted that long.....?

 

[chic0821]

You better hope its not ruined your 19 year old battery

 

[poormansporsche]

My 210s were all very mechanically reliable, the only problem was actually finding metal bits to bolt the mechanical bits to !!!!!

 

[jpwilliams]

You better hope its not ruined your 19 year old battery

It is the 19 year old exhaust I`m worried about !

 

[grober]

Mercedes don't make alternators. They fit them sure but don't manufacture them.

 

[Monkeylegend]

They can be an issue.

My first two E Classes did 312k miles each on the original but the third one needed a replacement at 290k ish miles.

Disgraceful.

 

[johnsco]

I guess the alternators on my W210s would all have been Bosch.
I know one of them was, as I removed it after the car was written off in a shunt.
I never had to use it and someone eventually took it off my hands for £££.

 

[Ted]

Sadly you are not alone. My W124 was terrible for reliability.

Rubbish 124 quality! | General Discussion

My MOT is up at the end of November, so I thought I'd get th car in early. To my disappointment the car failed. Two of the amber bulbs had started to show white. How DARE Mercedes make a car where the bulbs fail after only fifteen years. I spent £740 of my hard earned childrens inheritance to...

forums.mbclub.co.uk

My W210 however was much better in the 110,000 miles I owned it.

 

[grober]

Perhaps also an indicator that rotating mechanical devices [power generating or power using] electric motors/gas turbines ETC should be inherently more reliable than any reciprocating mechanical device such as an internal combustion engine or piston driven steam engine!

 

[190]

252,000 miles on an alternator is very good going if the brushes haven't been replaced although the brushes do last a long time because they are on slip rings rather than a commutator. It's perfectly possible to make a permanent magnet alternator which would not need brushes to excite the rotor and they would last even longer. The problem is you would then have no easy way of controlling the voltage output. Permanent magnet alternators do exist but only on very small types as they are wasteful and inefficient with any excess output being dumped as heat.

 

[Ted]

Yes. A very nasty way of controlling alternator output.
I was surprised that this was still the method (dumping the excess as heat) on my bike.

 

[noogieman]

Yep, nothing's built to last anymore

If automakers build to last they wouldn't sell new cars anymore would they?
Only the rich people who can afford to buy new will be the only buyers, not you and me who drives old cars.

 

[jpwilliams]

I`m currently on vacation in Spain and I have just had to authorise the supply and fitting of a new Alternator to my 2003 W210 Diesel Estate.
The Alternator stopped working on Sunday afternoon after 19 years and 252,000 miles. So much for Merc reliability huh ?
They clearly don``t make em like they used to!

The Spanish garage has phoned to tell me that they ordered another Alternator quoting the VIN number and have received it but it is different to the one they removed from the car which is water cooled. After scouring the internet it appears that the W210 320 cdi (mine is a 220 cdi) was fitted with a water cooled version, possibly because it was fitted with additional electrical equipment. Mine was one of the last W210`s produced and was/is fitted with the Comand system.Could that be the reason mine had the water cooled Alternator?
Anyone have any thoughts ?

 

[grober]

Liquid coolant quiets alternator

Schwieberdigen, Germany--With the growing number of electrical loads in modern vehicles, alternator des

www.designnews.com

 

[Mactech]

I used this slightly more modern one as a 'stop gap' car in 2015. It had just over 100k miles on it.
I put 2 tyres and 25k miles on it before I sold it with very little depreciation.
The MOT reports indicate it's only done 312K miles now but needed some brake part to get an MOT......

Oh! and it's very first owner was someone called Avis.....

 

[grober]

I used this slightly more modern one as a 'stop gap' car in 2015. It had just over 100k miles on it.
I put 2 tyres and 25k miles on it before I sold it with very little depreciation.
The MOT reports indicate it's only done 312K miles now but needed some brake part to get an MOT......

Oh! and it's very first owner was someone called Avis.....

View attachment 126125

I believe both estate and V6 models of the RHD W203s were built in Bremen Germany unlike the RHD 4 Cylinder saloons which were built in South Africa?